Transfer news: Fulham close to snatching Dimitar Berbatov away from Juventus move

Dimitar Berbatov fell out of favour at Old Trafford (Getty Images)

Dimitar Berbatov was last night deciding between joining Italian champions Juventus or his old manager Martin Jol at Fulham as both clubs agreed fees with Manchester United.

In an extraordinary series of events, Berbatov left England on yesterday morning for a medical at Fiorentina. While waiting for a connecting flight in Munich he took a call asking if he would prefer a move to Juventus, who had topped their Serie A rival's offer by bidding £4.5million for the Bulgaria striker.

Berbatov immediately re-routed to Turin where he was expected to end Juve's long search for a new striker, only to reconsider his destination again when Jol asked him to remain in the Premier League. Fulham are ready to put Berbatov on a contract worth £80,000 a week if he shuns the opportunity to play Champions League football and were confident of concluding the deal.

Late last night the Juventus director general Giuseppe Marotta admitted defeat and claimed Berbatov would stay in England for "family reasons".

Wayne Rooney has dismissed speculation that United could be prepared to sell him. Rooney said via his Twitter account last night: "Read the nonsense in the papers and heard what people have to say. absolute rubbish £heretostay."

Chelsea have joined the pursuit of Marseilles forward Loïc Rémy, who looks increasingly likely to conclude a move to the Premier League by tomorrow's transfer deadline.

Tottenham Hotspur are also interested in Rémy while some of the income from the sale of Luka Modrichas has been committed to the purchase of Mousa Dembélé for £15m from Fulham.

Manchester City are closing in on signing Fiorentina's Serbian centreback Matija Nastasic, with a deal likely to send both cash and Montenegrin defender Stefan Savic in the opposite direction.

QPR have confirmed the signing of the Internazionale keeper Julio Cesar on a four-year deal. Aston Villa have snapped up Middlesbrough left-back Joe Bennett for £2.5m. The Scotland striker Jordan Rhodes is on the verge of joining Blackburn after they agreed an £8m fee with Huddersfield.